Social
Glacial Communications on FacebookMailing List
Archives
Stuff you should check out
Meta
Monthly Archives: May 2008
tape loops the easy/lazy way.
Last week for the radio show, I took Portishead’s advice and recorded an album on a 4-track cassette.
Well, not really. I didn’t even read that article until about fifteen minutes before airtime. However, I did do something interesting with my 4-track that I’m sure somebody else has done before, but was new to me.
My favorite local electronics surplus store (appropriately named Electronic Surplus, Inc.) has been selling these 30-second endless outgoing answering machine tapes for a while now (they’re fifty cents online, but onsite they’re a quarter? That may be a remnant of last summer’s moving sale, though, and once the box in the storefront is empty the in-store price could go back up). I’ve been picking up a handful every time I go, with the intention of maybe building something like a Melloman. I finally decided to just try a few in the ol’ 4-track and see how it goes.
It was kinda cool. Since the 4-track runs at double the speed of a standard cassette, my loops were 15 seconds rather than 30. The tapes do have a 1″ leader splicing the ends together, so there is a brief jump as it loops, but it didn’t necessarily take away from the experience. I basically left the 4-track (a Yamaha MT50) in record, and activated each channel as needed to record, using the blank splice as a mental start/stop signal.
Some example clips will be forthcoming. I’ve been busier than usual lately, so I haven’t had a chance to dump the tapes onto a computer yet. I’ll probably do something where I play each track individually, and then play all four at once.
I’ll definitely be doing this sort of thing again.
Tagged 4-track, cassette, tape loops
Press The Button Podcast for May 14, 2008
The overall theme was “Synaesthesia”. I’m not sure how well that translated on the air. Also tried a new experimental technique I intend to post about later tonight – it requires photos and sound evidence…
Gonna be a Synth-DIY Summer…
I’ve got a bunch of projects I’m either going to do or make an attempt at doing, anyway:
- MFOS Sound Lab Mini Synth PLUS - I’ve got the PCBs and a number of the components on hand. Most of the rest of the components are enroute. I’m going to try a MAX1044-based power supply, since a) I’d like to avoid batteries and b) I dislike most normal bipolar power supplies. We’ll see how that goes.
- “The Box of Tricks” – A take on fitting as much modular-like goodness into a cigar box as possible. Still mostly in the conceptual phase- I’m trying to determine what modules will go in, and making design considerations (banana jacks vs. 1/4″ vs. nails-and-alligator-clips, mostly). This will probably warrant a future post when I make some more decisions.
- A CV/Gate sequencer – probably an 8-step version of the Baby 10. Maybe with some “extras” (start/stop, internal and external clock, other features?)
- A very likely project when the above are finished is the Thomas Henry SN Voice. My wife had one of these Remco Sound fx Machines as a kid (based on the same IC) and I’ve got the IC sitting in another box (a Midwest Analog Snare+) that I’m not using.
- Some kind of MIDIbox SID? I’ve got a 6581 in my parts bin just waiting to get used.
Somewhere in the middle of that, I’m going to do some repairs as well – my MG-1 needs at least two sliders replaced (and I have the replacements, so it’s mostly scheduling at this point), and I’ve got a couple of things that need rubber keypad repair (probably the MMT-8 in general, and the RY10′s BD1 key for certain).
Some poking around on Electronic Goldmine’s site last night revealed a couple of chips with possibilities for future projects as well:
- The YMZ284-D has some potential for something. And datasheets are out there.
- This TMS3477-based sampler looks intriguing, but since there’s no schematic and no datasheet, I’m thinking no dice.
My plate is full.
Tagged synthDIY
Press The Button Podcast for May 7, 2008
Press The Button Podcast for May 7, 2008. Show notes are available at http://www.glacialcommunications.com/news